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Euro Life, 2026 Race Choices, and Golden Opportunities with Billy Curtis | Episode 91
254 Plays1 day ago
In this episode of Peak Pursuits, the crew kicks off 2026 with a deep dive into Aussie trail runner Billy Curtis’ European winter campaign, fresh off a win at the Trail del Bora ultra in northern Italy. Billy breaks down his move to longer racing, grey-zone training, and why Montenegro and the Balkans are underrated training hubs for trail runners. The team also looks ahead to the World Trail Majors, including Trans Gran Canaria, Madeira, and Transvulcania, and what they mean for Australian athletes on the global stage. Plus, a detailed preview of the stacked Tarawera Ultra-Trail 100km field and Golden Ticket implications for Western States. Essential listening for anyone following elite trail running in Australia and beyond.
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners! And to enter our end of year giveaway make sure you follow us and Bix Australia on insta then tag your friend in a comment on this episodes post!***
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Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Transcript
Introduction to 2026
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 91 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. Welcome to 2026. we've got a fun little episode to kick the year off.
Vlad's Weather and Training Update
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm joined by one of our regular hosts, Vlad over in Perth. How are you going, Vlad?
00:00:23
Speaker
Doing well, even though it's been really, really warm. And lucky I have my treadmill now, so I can actually break up some my runs into some cooler aircon runs and and in in my office.
00:00:36
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Okay, cool. So you whack the aircon on for that? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's been having like 35, 36, 37 degrees most afternoons. So, yeah, I put the aircon on, two fans, and I don't put the aircon like super high, like 24 degrees, but it's way nicer than running outside right now.
Billy Curtis in Venice
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, OK, cool. Oh, we might come back to that in a little bit. um But ah we're also joined by a special guest back on the podcast again. 2026 Billy Curtis over in Europe at the moment. He's in Venice in a very beautiful looking establishment. How are you going, Billy?
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, really good. It's good to be back on the podcast, Vlad and Brody. um And yeah, it's a nice, nice little shoebox hotel room in Venice. We're going to sort of dive into a little bit about what you've been up to the last few months, but maybe to start with, you can let everyone know why you're in Venice. ah We saw that you did a race yesterday. How did that go?
Italian Winter Racing with Billy
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's hard to find some races in the winter in Europe, but there's there's a lot about throughout Italy. They like to continue racing, I think, in central Italy around Tuscany, and then there's a few in the north, but usually along the coastline. So more similar to Australian sort of races. You're only going up to about 500 metres above sea level from the coast or from...
00:01:50
Speaker
like sort of the midlands in in Italy, so it's not too s snowy. So, yeah, just been sort of like picking races that have either passed competitive times or like are a big a big event because not many ah like elite runners are running in the winter. They're dead resting or ski mowing or something else.
00:02:07
Speaker
yeah So what was this race?
S1 Della Bora Race Details
00:02:11
Speaker
ah This one was S1 Della Bora. um I don't know the actual name of the race. So I think it's called S1 Della Bora.
00:02:18
Speaker
And then each race has its own own little name. So mine was Trancast Ultra and it was a 60k race. Yeah, cool. And did you go into summer Slovenia, it looks like? Did you go across the border?
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, so it's ah the town of Trieste is Slovenian, Italian and Austrian. So three different like languages and cultures in one town. And then, yeah, so it runs along the border of Slovenia, basically. So that's the more technical part of the race is when it borders against the two countries.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, cool. and And why did you choose um that race? You said you were sort of looking for races that had like past good times or like some competition. Like what what was that? What that drew you to this race?
Race Motivation and Marketing
00:02:59
Speaker
It was the big, it was just the bigger event that had a lot of marketing around it and it was on yeah it was just available and you could you could find a lot of the races are quite small with their marketing and website so this one's very big or very international so very much a tourist race but so not really fast times maybe three four five years ago like andreas ritas ran it some really fast local italian runners have ran it ran it before so that i suppose looking at that and going oh yeah that's that cool that's a winter race that i can do yeah cool how did it go how did it go did you i can't tell did you win
00:03:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it went really well,
Race Performance and Training Goals
00:03:35
Speaker
actually. Like, I was very happy. I'm sort of moving into beyond the three-hour racing, sort of three to five hours for this year. So it was good to start. Similar to last year at Hong Kong.
00:03:45
Speaker
I think this is why I can get on the the podcast at the start of the year because I race very early in the year. yeah so it's But i'm yeah, starting them starting the year with something a bit longer just to test for where yeah where my training is at the moment for some some of the goals later on in the year.
00:04:01
Speaker
So this was four hours, four hours 48. So I think most of my races for the next six months will be around three hours 30 to four four and a half to five hours. So yeah, testing that, I don't think there's too much of my training that needs to be moved around. So I don't need to go and do anything too crazy for the next few months yeah nice one oh cool and what were you what were you most happy about like in the race was it like nutrition or like how you felt like your pacing or like how smooth things were rolling along like what was the what was the big takeaway and what were you I guess what were you happy about and what's something that you might want to work on I think that the just running for a long period of time like
00:04:40
Speaker
I find it more difficult to feel smooth running quite quickly for a long period of time. So I think that's the main main takeaway that if I do three weeks of some flatter sessions, not anything super fast, like just around four-hour race pace, just do it breaking it up into some longer intervals and making sure you're not breaking down mechanically too much,
00:05:01
Speaker
I found that to be good and I don't need to do too much of it to have like ah a pretty good race over that distance. Cause I think I, you can feel that you need to do so much in a training block to be prepared for a race. That's a bit different to what you used to, but no, that's, it was good because then I can just focus on sort of more uphill, steep uphill running and training for a while.
00:05:20
Speaker
now yeah Yeah, nice. Cool. Do you have any um questions, Vlad, about the race? Otherwise, we might well sort of get into what Billy's been up to and what's looking ahead to the rest of the year. ah fli I think Vlad's villades left us for for a bit. He's gone. Vlad's gone? I didn't even see. I've just got a wall of big hats in the background.
00:05:43
Speaker
He's left us with his hat. All right. yeah yeah I guess he has no questions then. Let's um let's ah talk about what you've been
Winter in Europe and Cost Benefits
00:05:53
Speaker
up to. So obviously you're over there in Europe, you've just done this race in Italy, um but you've been over there since World Champs. What have you been up to for those who sort of haven't seen um and what's what was the reason behind that, I guess? Like what's what's the current goals and what are you working on? Yeah. So it was mainly to get over there for world champs. And then I just decided that in the wintertime, Europe is really cheap to live in like a long-term rental.
00:06:18
Speaker
So I thought, why not just stay over here for the winter? And um it'd be great to be in in Europe for three months in the summer and doing all the big races, but it's very expensive. And that's the time of year I can actually be working in Australia and making some better money during that time of year.
00:06:32
Speaker
So I thought, oh, I'll just spend some time in the winter and pick out some some cool looking races in nice places rather than you know doing big events, just sort of be in Europe racing, practicing racing.
00:06:44
Speaker
um So yeah, I selected UTMB Majorca, that race in Arezzo in early December and then this one in Trieste in Italy. And yeah, just went ah into them all more for the enjoyment and just learning something about different trails in in Europe and racing different sort of people. and Yeah, so no no like huge goals with those races at all.
00:07:09
Speaker
Stuffed up me or the Majorca race quite quite badly with just spending a lot of time with with mates a week before, catching up with friends from like ah Erasmus from like five years ago. was a pretty bad experience there. But actually, I was pretty pretty happy with the run in the end. And then, yeah, the next two races were much more like ah testing for the next few months. Yeah, cool, cool. And you've been living in Montenegro for, was it like about a month or a bit longer than a month, couple of months?
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was is about six weeks in the end living in Montenegro. And I could not recommend it enough. It's got really long, like you can live on the coastline in the winter. It's no snow.
00:07:45
Speaker
It's cold, but not too cold. You've got like a climb in Cotor that goes for like 1800 meters over 13 kilometers. Yeah. And then all the other climbs around, like you've got a VK over two and a half kilometers. And then all of the roads are dead flat. So you can do a combination of,
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, super flat road running, super steep climbs and then really, really long climbs as well. And it's just so cheap. Perfect VK 10K training. Yeah, basically. Yeah, yeah yeah i just when yeah. When you have so much variety in the the training, I feel like you can do a little bit more and get a bit more specific with what you want to do rather than training in a place where you've got just your rolling hills and you get quite used to them and yeah maybe you're not noticing the changes in like adaptations and that.
Training Strategies for Endurance
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And you were saying before that you were sort of doing a bit more work on the flat as well, like doing some longer, longer stuff. Like what was that? um what was that sort of training um that you were doing it was more just making sure my legs mechanically can work for just around an hour and a half two hours on the flats and like these are not fast paces at all people would look at that and go like oh geez that's I think it was like a 3 55 to four minutes on the flats per kilometer but you're not getting in great you're not improving you know
00:09:02
Speaker
like your actual running speed at that that pace and that effort. But I think it's more to just make sure your Achilles and your hip flexors and everything can just sustain it for a little bit longer. Yeah, yeah cool.
00:09:14
Speaker
A bit more like, I guess, like not at training maybe at marathon pace, but that sort of more like part of marathon training or road marathon training where you're like just making sure your legs can tolerate the sort of repeated beating for two to three hours. So it's a similar similar sort of thing, it sounds like.
00:09:31
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. It's like grey zone training. So probably the area where people avoid the most, I reckon. But it's actually for for a three to five hour race, you're spending most of your time at that yeah that sort of effort level in reality.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah, and it's probably something that's quite important. Yeah. and underutilized in their sort of like final specialization phase or like when you're when you're coming up to those races to make sure that you sort of you've done the maybe polarized training back a few months ago, but you've really sort of focused in and and made sure the legs are actually ready for what they're going to have to tackle in the race.
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I think that's how my my training's probably changed a bit in the past, probably past few months is just more going, oh, what race are you going into and how fast you're actually going to be running in reality yeah rather than doing like fast or threshold uphill sessions and just going, yeah well, if I've got to run at a 350 to four minute gap pace for that race, well, just train at that effort level and make it feel comfortable. And then when you get to the race, you've just got to sit in sit in that gear for as long as you can.
00:10:28
Speaker
it should be, yeah in reality, it should be okay. Yeah. Yeah, cool. Sounds good. And it's probably more enjoyable as well. Like nice. is that So I find the grey zone training is like actually feels like it's pre-threshold. So it's it's easier than comfortably hard and you can sort of roll it for a long time. It gets harder the longer you go for it. But it's like, it's actually quite nice. And you probably feel pretty well in it as well.
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, oh definitely. Yeah. And if I was just running just for fun, it would be all in grey zone, I reckon. Yeah, exactly. It's moderate pace. That's what you would be doing. If you were just running for fun, you'd always be going out the door and running moderately.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. it's It's the, what is it like when you get a runner's high? Like you're not buggered, you know, it wasn't too easy and you got a nice runner's high. So yeah, definitely. And it's great for like practicing your fueling too, because you're moving at a pace that's throwing your guts around a bit, but you're not pushing super hard. So you can get a lot of fuel in, I find, at that effort too. Yeah, and it's probably closest to your intensity for that sort of three to five hour race, which is what you were talking about. Like you're not going to be going...
00:11:26
Speaker
You're not going to be doing much of a three to five hour race in threshold. um You're going to be more in that sort of mid zone. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that race yesterday, all of about 30 to 40 K of it was three 50 to four or five gap pace outside of the technical climbs and maybe some steeper stuff on that rolling terrain. So the the the sessions actually lined up quite well.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Cool. Awesome. Sounds really good. And so you're still over in Europe for a little bit longer now. Like what's what's next? Like you're have you moved from Montenegro? You're heading somewhere else?
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, this this race is sort of breaking up between Montenegro and Macedonia. So we're moving to um Lake Ored, which is a huge, huge in the inland lake in the Balkans between sort of straddles um Albania, Macedonia and or maybe just those two countries. And you've got a huge national park right next to the lake that goes up to around 1,400, 1,500 metres.
00:12:24
Speaker
yeah So I think it's like a 1200 meter climb from town. And then you've got a lot of like those foothill um sort of trails along the lake too, because it's quite touristy there. In the winter, it's minus five to five degrees. So we'll have to be spending a lot of time in the in the gym in some clothes to get some heat training in before the summer. Yeah. Like, did you say Lake Orrid?
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah. Lake Orrid. Yeah. Cool. So I think yes and it's quite a touristy area for Balkans people and maybe um like Turkish and Russian as well.
00:12:59
Speaker
Yeah, cool. Nice one. And so how long are you there for? um Another six weeks there. So we've got to do the three months outside of the Schengen area so then we can re-enter for three months and yeah don't have to keep going in and out sort of thing, just going three months Europe or two months Europe, three months in the Balkans outside of the Schengen area and then three months back in.
00:13:20
Speaker
Three months back in
Upcoming Race Plans in Europe
00:13:21
Speaker
Europe. Yeah. Nice. Okay, cool. Sounds good. And so is that another sort of big training block that you're going to be doing there? And then have you got some races on the horizon after that? Yeah. Yeah. So I'll have another full week off pretty much this week and then, um, six weeks until Trans-Gran Canaria and I'll probably still go to a little race in, in Tuscany in the end of January. Okay.
00:13:45
Speaker
as well but yeah i think that that it won't be a huge block of training but i've been really enjoying the shorter blocks of training into a race because i find you just you stay much fresher you have a full rest full wet rest week four or five weeks of training and then you feel fresh on race day i think yeah cool cool and then what are you doing at trans grand canara ah The 47K, so it'll be the first of the World Trail Majors. I'm going to try to do try to do three of the World Trail Majors, and hopefully if I can get two out of those three good, you should be able to get decent overall ranking, I think.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, there's something I was sort of looking at and I wonder how many the sort of like second tier athletes are having ah having a look at the the World Trail majors and saying, okay, well, actually there is a little bit of prize money up for grabs there and it's potentially not, if you have two decent races in there, it's not too difficult to sort of place all right in the overall ranking. But I imagine it will get more competitive over time. But yeah, that's cool. what's the What's the other ones of the World Trail majors that you'll look at doing?
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah, so Trans Grand Canaria will be the hardest to score because it's it's just ultra competitive 47K. um But in in saying that, you you still get pretty high scores even for like a 10th place. It doesn't drop back too far.
00:15:03
Speaker
So you can still rank overall well. um But yeah, so Trans Grand Canaria, then Madeira 60K, which is seven weeks after, I think. And then GPT at the end of the year makes a lot of sense. And I think yeah if I'm...
00:15:16
Speaker
signed up to the elite support. So um i haven't, haven't risked heard anything back yet. But I think if I have two Europe races and an Australian race, maybe it will be a hopefully we'll get something small for funding for it.
00:15:29
Speaker
ye Yeah, cool. Fantastic. Sounds really good. And is that like the way you're setting up your year or your season? Is that is that sort of your focus for the year? Is that the the World Trail Majors? it yeah not Not exactly, but it just works out well. I think it works out.
00:15:46
Speaker
perfectly i'll be in the canary islands for three months they're the two big races there outside of utmb tenerife and then transvolcania i can do all four realistically can't probably perform well at all four so i'll have to focus on two so there's two world trail majors i should should focus on those two really i'd prefer to focus on transvolcania the seventy k because it's like i think it's one of the races around the world to do Yeah, yeah. I think watching Charlie run there last year, um and looks and and Vlad talks very highly Transvaulcan area, it looks like a very cool race to do.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah, and also um Blake Hose has podiumed there too. yeah He's beat like Dakota Jones and um maybe Francois Dehane. Yeah, so there's some Aussies that have performed really well because I think the trails are really hard. From what I i remember, I lived there for a couple of months when I wasn't a trail runner.
00:16:42
Speaker
But the trails are really hard packed and it's quite exposed. So I think it's quite similar to Australia that if you're training in the summer in Australia, you're probably pretty prepared for that race.
00:16:52
Speaker
I've never spoken to the guys about that, but I reckon there could be something to it. There's a lot of eucalyptus trees on the Canary Islands too. So maybe just the feeling. Just a breath of home makes you run it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So so in that in that scenario, I think that Australians can probably perform well in the Canary
Training in the Canary Islands
00:17:10
Speaker
Islands. So I'm hoping that ah winter season, people coming off the skis, probably not full fitness. Yeah. A lot of hopes here, but um yeah yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. so um So you head to Canary Islands to do Trans Grand Canary and then you stay there for a bit?
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, and then just stay there. and Because when you do the long-stay Airbnbs, it's obviously very cheap. Yeah. So we'll just stay there for – I think it's splitting it up just basically equally from Gran Canaria and then La Palma, which is where Transvolcania is.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah. But that will be a bit of a different um training ground to what Madeira will be. So maybe I could look at doing a short training block in Madeira. But there's also a lot of Aussies that have performed super well at Madeira. I think Mike Dunstan has probably done the best. And i think Mikey Demiates has also raced there pretty well. Yeah, I think he raced there. He ran in maybe 22, think, 2022. I think twenty twenty two i think he ran quite well.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, but Michael Dunstan's time, I reckon that that was sort of missed a couple years ago and I still see that. kind what did hey What did he do there? think it was the 86K or, yeah yeah, not the 60, not the 120, whatever's in between there. I think he got fourth. Yeah, wow.
00:18:32
Speaker
But stacked, just stacked field of runners, yeah. Yeah, crazy. I guess he's sort of shown his ability to do that in in the races he's done in Australia as well and Snowdonia.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I've always looked at Madeira as one. that's definite That's probably one on my list over the sort of Canary Islands, but a very cool part of the world. So it'll be exciting to see us sort of see you over there. we'll be at a Everyone will be able to follow your Strava maps as you're running around the mountains in on the islands. It'll be very cool to watch.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, definitely, yeah. You know, i think I think that those races could be good for Aussies too. I know that everyone goes over in July, August, when it's for UTMB and things like world champs. But I feel like if you could do a training block in the summer and then go over to this.
00:19:18
Speaker
So there's those four races that I mentioned. Then you've got two Skyrunning World Series races in that period as well. you've got the Calamore Skyrace and Anticodolo Skyrace.
00:19:30
Speaker
So you've six races in three months to choose from, from 20K Sky Race all the way up to like Trans-Grand Canaria, which is and like 8,000 meters of climbing. So...
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, you've got lots lots to do there basically in a short period of time. Yeah, cool. Yeah, no, it looks um looks really cool. and and And you probably make a really good point in terms of like maybe it doesn't apply exactly to you, although you look like you've been training very well. But coming from Australian summer, racing sometime in in Europe against the Europeans who have just gone through winter, something early season, you probably got a little bit of a leg up.
Australian Runners' Advantage
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's an interesting, whereas we often probably go to UTMB having trained for a few months of winter and they've been training in summer. So um yeah, it's a good it's a good point there and and those races do look very cool. And and vlade will be happy to Vlad's back with us and he'll be happy to hear that we've been talking up Transvolcania.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah, sorry. we just yeah I'm recording from our big shop slash um office and you just had some customers come in. But yeah, absolutely. It's my all-time favorite race and I can't wait to go back and then can't wait to follow your whole trip and then the race. And I'm sure that you'll do this race and you go, wow, that was an experience and you will try and come back.
00:20:48
Speaker
after that can can we get some like um good advice on here for for trying yeah because then it's saved and i can just play it what i mean obviously you're going to see the whole course but where i struggled is that 20k of downhill section um where you can see that beach for a long time and you know getting closer and you just keep running down and down and down and you can't see the finish line so if you can see that section you can try get hopefully somebody to drop you up the top there um at that aid station in los muchachos and then just run down all the way to the beach um if you can do that a few times while you're there i think that will help a lot knowing that section yeah so in training a lot of like long descents you think would be beneficial and especially if it can be on that descent
00:21:41
Speaker
If you can see that descend at least once, I would highly recommend it because it is like so long that it's like, yeah, you can't you can see the finish line, like the the bottom of the de descend the whole time that you're running down for 20K.
00:21:54
Speaker
um So yeah mentally, it's actually really hard because you think I'm right there and you start picking up the pace, but then you realize that you still have 19K of downhill running. um So I think that's the toughest section. The first uphill.
00:22:07
Speaker
is is in the dark it's still cool um you know it's not that bad up the top it's not that bad but that downhill section is yeah pretty long so if you can see it a few times i think that would make a big difference yeah okay what's the surface like on the foot is it quite like hard pack trail or loose volcanic rock yeah it starts with loose volcanic rock and then as you get a bit closer You you actually run down the VK course and that's like, it's it's like a build up trail from a very long time ago. So if you imagine like how they build roads like 100, 150 years ago, that's what it's like. So it's like those rocks that are shaped into a trail.
00:22:47
Speaker
Um, yeah you know like it's technical, but all those rocks are pretty even. So you are landing on like hard surface, but they are pretty even. So it's not that bad. Um, But it would be hard to go at 4.30 pace at that point, i would say.
00:23:01
Speaker
And even if you ever look at some the guys that have won there, it's not like they're running super quick. So like around, probably around 4.30, 4.20s for those long downhill section there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's good to know. Thank you. Oh, no problem. How long are you going to have in La Palma before the race?
00:23:19
Speaker
I think six weeks. So um' I've, I'll be at the bottom of the descent. So rather than staying at the start line, super expensive, staying at the finish line and hopefully you can do some, yeah, some repeat or not repeats, but go up and down that climb.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, if you guys like renting a car in, in the Canary Islands, it's really cheap. Um, so if you guys can rent a car for a little bit, maybe not the whole time and then, um,
00:23:42
Speaker
you know, drive yourself up there and then run the downhill. I think that yeah would be like a key workout. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, cool. All right. Well, he's got the tools to he's got the tools to do it now. We'll do another Blake Hoza, I reckon.
00:23:57
Speaker
Don't know about that. I think ah i think a top 10, I think what Charlie did last year was really, really good. And the top 10 there is is great. But I think Vlad was a way just – out for a moment i don't think i'll be focusing on the 70k there as much madeira is two weeks before and it's part of the world trail majors so i'll be doing that one and hopefully we can back up and do the 70. hoping for the repeated bout effect to go big nice one good excuse after the canary islands are you headed back to australia for some time is that right yeah definitely yeah i'll have to come back and work and on the farm and make some decisions around towards the end of the year but
00:24:37
Speaker
Yeah, Asia Pacific looks awesome. Like Fujian province, I went there last year for that China race and it's really cool. And I want to go back because those mountains where it's held is is awesome. So, yeah.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, cool. Nice one. That's exciting. And um while you're over there in Europe, you're just pro-athleting. You're not working or anything. You're just like living living as cheap as you can and working and working hard in the training.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah, living as cheap as possible and asking for races to give a little bit of help where, well, don't ask specifically, but go, oh, do you have any elite entries or anything available for yeah for runners? And yeah, so many events. Like that event on the weekend put me up in accommodation, transfers, oh awesome race tickets. It's so good because it saves you $300, $400 a race if if if you're getting this this help.
00:25:28
Speaker
um yeah And yeah, just have to plan really well where you're living, Yeah, to save money, basically, where you're living, how you're going to fly there, all these things to save money. But I do a little bit of um in English teaching throughout the week, too.
00:25:41
Speaker
Oh, cool. so cool yeah So keeping a little bit busy. Yeah, definitely. And it helps a lot with training, too. Otherwise, you start rolling out the door too late. So if I know that I'm starting at 11 a.m., then I've got to get out the door by sort of just after eight o'clock to get some training in.
00:25:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, cool. Nice one. Well, that's exciting. And and Australian races, ah I think I saw that you might have a one or two on the list. Like where are we likely to see you in Australia later in the year?
00:26:06
Speaker
Would have loved to have raced Wandi, but it's been moved to like a week before UTA. Oh, has it really? Yeah. So I'm a bit bit upset about that. a bit cut up about it because that was ah that's a good race. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Because I saw you, I think you posted on your Strava or something what races you were looking at doing. And I saw that one was on there and I thought, oh, that'd be cool. I'll come and come and race you there. um But no, that's a shame. So that's too too early, I guess, for you because you'll still be in the Canary Islands.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's the same the same date, I think, as Transvalcania. So, depending know so so ian Ian Best is going to come over for Transvalcania to do the v the VK and then the uphill 20K race.
00:26:45
Speaker
So, if if I don't have a well, then I might do those those two as well with him. And then, i mean, you could fly back and do UTA realistically after two uphill races. Yeah, okay. I mean, last last year coming back from Asia and even doing UTA, that was quite unsuccessful. So, you'd probably be bit nervous about being buggered for it.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there anything else later in the the Australian season that you've sort of got your eye on that you might try and do? Yeah, definitely. It depends if I did head back to Europe because I do get that age group ticket from UTA last year, even though it was quite a successful race. So that that's one to take and it's an off year for something like world champs. But just it's a lot of money to head head back over.
00:27:28
Speaker
So if not, I would love to do, yeah, Hounslow and GPT would be cool to do, I think. Those two. ah far enough away from each other and very competitive usually and yeah offer a bit of variety in the type of racing you're doing compared to a lot of the australian races yeah cool well it sounds like i might be on a few star lines with you hopefully and later in the year there's a few that there's a few that i'm interested in racing hounds is definitely one i'd like to get to so it'd be very cool to i love racing ability so it'd be very fun to that you smash me probably but it'll be good
00:27:59
Speaker
Nah, no way that, Utah, anywhere around Katoomba, I'm just no good. I can't go up those metal staircases. I guess I've got an advantage. I'm seeing you fly down the stairs in Hong Kong.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, was going to say, I think I was a special listener at UTA. The metal metal stairs. No, that's where you you passed me. And once we finished the descending at UTA a couple of years back, and then you started ripping yourself up those stairs, bro, do you not? Yeah, it's such a schema action. You just got to practice your stairs. No, I think, yeah, no, no, I'm a bit scared of running at Racy in Katoomba actually. Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll put that, we'll put that one on the list, but yeah, it sounds like a very exciting year. I'm i'm really excited to follow along. Um,
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah, Vlad, do you have any other any questions for Billy? I've sort of peppered him for about 20 minutes. No, i mean, I've i've been enjoying following his training on Strava because I kind of like zoom in and zoom out to where he actually is because it's not a common place for people to trail run at like um and I think it's pretty cool that you like, you know, based in different locations and getting the most out of your time right now while you still can and racing and training in cool places. and Yeah, we'll definitely highly recommend and Billy as a good Strava follow because it's something ah different and interesting to look at. Sometimes it does go a bit dark for a bit, but lately it's been on. Don't go dark on us, Billy. We enjoy seeing the training. Yeah, I won't. I won't. Strava is my only social media now, so it's my only outlet into the world. there any connection to the world?
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. People get sick of me. I message them on Strava because that I'm not using anything at the moment and they just get they get sick of it. And they're like, what's this? They just end up replying. Yeah, they just reply with their WhatsApp. I send them a big message and they just reply with a WhatsApp number.
00:29:52
Speaker
efficient That's great. Awesome. Cool. All right. Well, Vlad, what have you been up to? And um you yeah I guess we were talking a little bit offline beforehand and we're going to talk a little bit about the Tarawira fields in a moment, but like how's training going?
00:30:08
Speaker
said it was hot in WA. Is it good heat training or is it too hot for that? It's almost like a bit too hot. I think obviously I've done this for the last, you know, 12, 13 years of training through the summer here.
00:30:20
Speaker
um But this year decided to invest into a treadmill. So i kind of break up some of those hard days. It's not hard training in the heat once or twice or three times, but then like, you know, when it's like twice a day, like week after week, I do feel like, you know it does take the toll. So, um yeah, got a treadmill and put a couple of sessions on and runs on the treadmill. I did a three hour treadmill run yesterday, which wasn't that bad, um but that was would have been a lot worse running
00:30:53
Speaker
like at 36 degrees yesterday. um Yeah. So yeah, trying to build some volume in my legs, um kind of been pushing now that I do have the treadmill, like trying to get some more quality work on like a soft gradient, like 8%. So it's a bit hard. I've tried it a little bit before, like,
00:31:15
Speaker
doing double threshold, but doing it kind of on the flat and then going to work and then doing another threshold in the afternoon. But doing it on the treadmill just makes it a little bit easier and I'm not as dead.
00:31:30
Speaker
um So that's been a positive. It's only been two or three weeks. So I'll see i'll see in about three or four weeks how I feel. um But so far, yeah, it's been kind of good. I am trying to plan when I do bank some longer runs.
00:31:44
Speaker
um You know, personally, my last 100k race was 10 years ago. um so I do want to bank in at least like two five hour runs um more for confidence and fitness realistically at this point.
00:32:01
Speaker
um But yeah, i also just had a look at the entry list off TerraWare and um Yeah, it's going to be definitely going to be competitive. I don't want to change my training too much, obviously, knowing it's going to be more competitive. But yeah, the goal right now is trying to bank at least 16 to 17 hours of running for the next four weeks.
00:32:20
Speaker
um And yeah, hopefully, you know, it all comes together in TerraWara. Yeah, it's definitely going to be a fast competitive race. so going still As usual, you're putting my mileage absolutely to shame. Like every time I get on the podcast with, but he's doing at least 12 hours more training than me. There's a lot of easy running, like obviously a lot, a lot of even like the three hours yesterday, like average heart rate was zone two, 140 beats per minute. yeah.
00:32:51
Speaker
eights per minute so There's a lot of easy running, I guess now with the Tuesday and Friday where I do doubles threshold, um there's a lot more quality.
00:33:01
Speaker
But overall, like I think my body is just so used to running the miles that if I don't run them, I feel unfit. um And yeah, I guess 16 to 17 hours is the goal right now to hopefully be fit enough to be competitive at a eight hour race. So being seven to eight hours, is it, it is a hundred K of running, but compared to a lot of trial races, like a 50 mile race is usually around that area. So does it make it, um, a bit more easy on your mind that it's like two and a half thousand meters of climbing a hundred K it's not a hundred K with, you know, five to 6,000 meters of climbing.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, if you think about it, um, if you think about the time, eight hours is not as long as most hundred K races that on the trails would take, you know, 11 or 12 or 13 hours.
00:33:55
Speaker
Um, so it is, it definitely is a bit easier and that means that I need to focus a bit more on quality rather than just, you know, getting junk miles in. Um,
00:34:06
Speaker
But yeah, it's also a good feeling kind of knowing that I did run for six hours three weeks ago in a month um and, you know, wasn't destroyed by it. So i think that that's a positive and um I would be training a lot differently if I was going into a 13 or 14 hour mountain race for one hundred and two k um But yeah, also excited to take on a very, very runnable 100k course. Do you think if you were training for ah say that race, the 13, 14 hour mountain race, would you do less hours and more like, or would to be the same hours, different training? Maybe similar hours, but yeah, very different training. Like right now I'm trying to like, even even the treadmill runs, like I'm trying to not go over like eight or 9% incline.
00:34:55
Speaker
Um, just so I don't really go too deep in that strength phase and rather get leg turnover and good for form running through it. Um, and yeah, if I was going to go into a high elevation race, you know, that I'll be on 15% incline probably on the treadmill.
00:35:13
Speaker
Um, just building that strength And I guess probably a bit more downhill as well if you were training for a mountain race, whereas like you don't, you can do just ah all your all your elevation can nearly be uphill only because there's not going to be a massive sort of downhill component to Tarawira.
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah, I still think I'm going to do two or three key downhill sessions um just to smash up the legs a bit. But yeah, you're right. Like i You know, if I got four, four and a half thousand meters of gain this week, maybe a bit more, 5,000 meters of gain this week, I only got maybe like 1,500 meters of downhill running, which technically means that I feel a lot fresher in that sense, like from the impact side of things and...
00:35:57
Speaker
um I think, you know, kind of listening to a lot of podcasts in the past year, a lot of runners are going towards that way for races that are not UTMB or like very kind of high um technical elevation races. Yeah.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah. Nice. Well, it looks like ah something I definitely couldn't do at the moment or ever training like you are. But it's been it's pretty cool to sort of see is like open up Strava and it's like, OK, what's Vlad done today?
00:36:27
Speaker
He's done 36 K's or something and I've done six. So it's a good good comparison. is yeah any of the yeah yeah I was going to say, from results in the past at TerraWare 100, it seems like a really solid marathon runner with maybe not a lot of volume can do pretty well. Do you think that's still the case now? Vlad, if you've got, what's, ah I think his name is Michael Voss, is a local guy in New Zealand. He usually does quite well at the 50 but he's not running a lot of volume, but he's ah you know probably a 2.15 marathon runner. Do you think you can still get away with that at Tarawara or is the field just too good now? Yeah, it's a good question. Like 2.15 is definitely very, very quick, but maybe maybe you'd still need a bit of volume for that and you know you're just going to get away with being super fit and your zone two or low zone three being so much quicker than others.
00:37:25
Speaker
um if If that was a 208 marathon runner, then i would say, yeah, you can probably get away with it. um Yeah. But... but Yeah, I think those guys are like, if you ever look even at Dan Johns, like, you know, i go on his Strava and probably Brody, where you feel about looking at my Strava, that's how i feel about looking at Dan Johns Strava, um that he gets a six hour run and then like two days later does 10 times 1K at three minutes, three off life pace. So a lot of speed and endurance at the same time. And that's obviously why he's got the course record and um you know some amazing results, like a top five in Western States. and
00:38:08
Speaker
Those are the guys that are winning it. So I think just looking at that start list, I think a top 10 would be a good result, to be honest. Yeah, that's like the level of trail running just so different. Like if you have a look at course record, XR ran TerraWare of 50K, I came third in 2017. And I don't know what was the winning time for the 100K back then, but it would have probably been around nine hours.
00:38:34
Speaker
um or maybe like low eight eight thirties eight forties um but yeah now they obviously dan john's it's going a lot quicker than that um on that course and i think this year people will as well yeah all right well maybe we should go there quickly and then i'll and then i'll give an update of where i'm up to but we were going to touch on the Tarawera and the fields and and how good they're looking. um It is a golden ticket race for Western States. The top two in both the men and the women will get the golden ticket.
00:39:08
Speaker
Vlad, you were sort of talking about the men's field before. Do you have, who are some of the people on that that sort of jump out at you as being sort of very competitive and will be right up there?
00:39:18
Speaker
I think all the four Chinese runners um you do a duo with a 907 UTMB index, um, you know, Joshar Shen from China as well, a North Face athlete, um, you know, probably going to be out there as well.
00:39:36
Speaker
And then a few of the Americans, um, Cole Watson, um, Jonathan Rhea, Eric Lapuma, Nicholas Handel, um, obviously very, very fast trail runners. And then Rudy from Japan as well is there. And then, you know, um,
00:39:54
Speaker
Charlie is there as well and like like um like Billy said, Michael Voss is there, which I've never even heard of. um But yeah, with the 2.15 marathon, yeah, it's going to be super, super quick. So i I don't know why I even opened that list. I just literally opened it before we jumped on this podcast and um yeah, probably got to start looking for another race in in in March now.
00:40:19
Speaker
yes Yeah, it looks at it like it's super competitive race and interesting like we were talking offline. There's some of the American runners coming across because the same on the same weekend is the um Black Canyon, which is also a golden ticket race. But I yeah, it looks like maybe it's like even though they're such incredible runners, they're sort of like maybe the second level down in America. So they're sort of seeing this tower as an option to get a golden ticket and get an entrance to Western States.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's yeah, it's pretty, pretty packed out list. um So yeah, I'm sure that's that's going to be a good race for you, Vlad. In the women, we've also got um there's also shaping up to be like a pretty incredible field. um I know there's a few from Australia and New Zealand that are going across chasing that um golden ticket. But the top some of the top runners, you got Tony McCann running, Caitlin Fielder from New Zealand's running.
00:41:18
Speaker
Hanaka Akiyama from Japan, Beth McKenzie, that's like the top four, but there's yeah lots of others, some North American runners, Jade Belzeg, Katie Asmuth, then you've got people like Juliet Sewell's running, Lucy Bartholomew, Zoe Manning's running, Steph Austin's running,
00:41:41
Speaker
So yeah, there's a lot of a lot of incredible runners there that those those Australian and New Zealanders are going to be running against to try and get that golden ticket. So yeah, it's interesting that it's, yeah, so I guess, yeah, getting into Western States is so competitive now that people are using Taraware as ah as a good option and maybe Black Canyon is something that's a bit too ah two competitive. So you've got people going for other things, although there's a lot of in the men's race, a lot of Chinese runners and maybe some people from Asia coming in, it might be a better a better option than um than going to America.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think what me and Billy were saying before the podcast is that if you're an American runner and you do get a golden ticket um into Western States, that pretty much guarantees like a contract.
00:42:27
Speaker
um So those golden ticket races are super competitive now. Like I remember like obviously back in 2017 and 18 kind of hearing a bit about them though, different races at that point, pretty much like, well, not smaller events, but, um, events that have lost golden ticket, um, the opportunity to be a golden ticket. And they kind of like faded away from this racing scene and yeah, they were competitive, but not like this, not like, you know, 15, 16 deep, like, Even, yeah, just looking even at that women's field, if you have a look at um and the women's field, like Lucy is probably like 12th, 14th deep inside that ranking,
00:43:12
Speaker
um like you know which shows how deep it is right now. um Yeah, for the men and women as well, um which is yeah crazy to think. And there's another golden ticket the same weekend in the US.
00:43:27
Speaker
um So yeah, there's a lot of weight on Western States and those golden tickets and I just wish I would have started a bit earlier yeah yeah yeah yeah I think it's I think it's great to see that New Zealand's attracting like a deep field like yes you would have those top two or top three or sometimes just the first place is a really elite top level runner like Dan Jones Hayden Hawks ah Jim Wamsley has been there. But to see the depth of international runners is crazy. h
00:43:57
Speaker
Each race has a depth of at least 10 of runners from US, Asia, Europe, which is crazy to look at, and South Africa. Yeah, technically I feel like there is room for another three or four international golden um ticket races around the world, um which would be nice to spread them out a bit more and have more opportunities because – It is a cool concept that only like the top two or top three, um, get an entry to this special race.
00:44:26
Speaker
Um, so yeah, it'd be nice to have some more of them. So this is, this is considered to be Asia's golden ticket opportunity to they've removed the Chiang Mai was one, the mile, there was one a couple of years ago, I think. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it was, um, sometimes they market it as like a golden as a lottery, um, option. So you can get like, you know, you can get into the, cause the Western States lottery as well, like changed a bit.
00:44:52
Speaker
Um, and it used to be like a list of races that you would need to finish to get a, an entry to that lottery. Um, so I think that's changed a bit, but I don't think, um,
00:45:05
Speaker
Chiang Mai was ever a golden ticket race. It's too different than the course. Like if you have a look at all golden except CCC. um So there are three international golden ticket races.
00:45:19
Speaker
Chianti, which is a new one, last year was just added. TerraWare has been for a while. And then CCC. CCC hasn't been a golden ticket for a long time, probably like the last two or three years.
00:45:32
Speaker
And that's like probably the most, none even though it's a very runnable 100K, it's probably like the most technical out of all the golden ticket races.
00:45:44
Speaker
Because they won races that are very similar to Western States, and Chiang Mai would be um would be a lot more technical and lot more elevation. it was for for one year it was in just first place for ah when it was doy and's in thanon ah wow But that was the only year it was ever because it's just so different. I remember seeing it was a like 10,000 meters of climbing over 100 miles was the yeah golden ticket race. And I was just like, well, that's ah just completely away from Western States. Yeah.
00:46:18
Speaker
right Yeah, but it would be interesting to see like the next few years how they do um handle the whole golden ticket system because that race is getting
Golden Ticket Race: Tarawera 100
00:46:27
Speaker
so big. And now, obviously, um it's very closely linked to Broken Arrow Trail Con,
00:46:35
Speaker
So that whole 10 days is is pretty big on that calendar. um So a lot of people do want to be there and get into that race. um So it'd be interesting to see what they actually do to try and accommodate more people or give more golden ticket opportunities. Yeah, definitely interesting. One name that I missed that's not on the elite field is Holly Ranson is also running um and Holly was running the 24-hour Champs.
00:47:04
Speaker
um I may got that wrong recently. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. She um was second. i think she's got a second. Yeah. And I think she almost broke the world record and maybe she's got the second fastest time or second longest distance.
00:47:18
Speaker
Very exciting to see how she goes there. um so yeah, it's going to be a good race. We'll cover it probably again closer to the time. But um yeah, it was good to sort of check in and see how competitive that list is and make sure we scare Vlad into continuing his crazy training.
00:47:36
Speaker
um Just don't get injured, Vlad, but you don't usually, so it looks good. and don't sell yourself Don't sell yourself short, Vlad, because a lot of those runners on the list too are more doing those vert, like those heavy vert races as well. I looked up some of the marathon times just before of the Chinese athletes, around 220 to 225, so they're not, extremely fast. Yeah.
00:47:58
Speaker
not, not within that sort of 212. There's probably going to be a few people that blow in that race as well. So like with any golden ticket race, there'll be a few people that go out a little too hot. So yeah, you gotta, you gotta climb a few of those and yeah, i don't know. Training's looking good. Yeah. No. And I mean like obviously anything can happen and I,
00:48:17
Speaker
I'm in obviously two minds. It'd be nice to to try and and be competitive in the golden ticket scene one day. But also, like um you know I wanted to do a 100k race again. like My last 100k was in 2015. So I think it's time to to do a couple more and and this was a good option. Not super close to Perth, a solid 10-hour trip, but yeah, still Still like I'm very excited about the training and then yeah, running another 100k race and being an eight ah hour race. um I'm actually pretty happy about that, that it's not a 12 hour race. Yeah, cool.
00:48:54
Speaker
Nice one. All right, well, lots of exciting things ahead. um I'll give a quick little update. I've been yeah been back running, which has been nice. I've been sort of slowly trying to build some consistency.
00:49:08
Speaker
I've added a little bit of intensity to my training as well. um Not too much, but just like a little bit to try and get a bit more stimulus through the Achilles and continuing out with the gym work. Yeah, just enjoying being out there and running a decent amount without sort of stressing about trying to force my body back into a certain position before it's ready. So yeah, it's been, been really good. I've been training with, um, Kate Avery a lot and she's been, um, smacking me up. So it's been nice and humbling. She, um, we did a session last week. We did an uphill session and, um, I said, uh, I um, oh yeah, I'm going to do this about threshold and, and, and like, she's like, ah okay, yeah, I'll just, um,
00:49:52
Speaker
I'll go with you or you can sort of run away and about 2K in she dropped me. So yeah, it's um it's been good ah getting back into it. um Great running with some of the people down in Melbourne, um and Ben and Cade and a few others. So yeah, I'm really enjoying enjoying at the moment. So yeah, it's it's good and I'm looking forward to hopefully doing some races later in the year and looks like I've got to try and beat Billy. So I've got to get serious, I think.
00:50:22
Speaker
You haven't signed the races yet? ah Not really because i don't I don't want to put anything on the calendar. I don't want to like force myself to rush towards something. So probably more likely in the first half of the year I'll jump in something a bit late notice um because my body feels ah good enough to do it.
00:50:43
Speaker
um And those ones will be more like I'm not training and racing towards it. It's just like my body can tolerate it. So I probably won't be looking to sort of focus focus on a race until something in the second half of the year and at this stage I'm thinking maybe like Hounslow feels like long enough away that hopefully by say March April I can go yep my body's in the position where I can sort of train towards Hounslow so yeah that's what I'm sort of thinking about um so yeah some I'm excited to try and do some races in Australia and
00:51:15
Speaker
um maybe jump in a few earlier than that that just sort of look exciting and and interesting and they're competitive and I'll try and make up the numbers a little bit and I won't be fighting for podiums but maybe I can sort of keep the races interesting and competitive so yeah I'm looking forward to sort of being that that part of it and um Yeah, should be good. Are you enticed by some prize money that we spoke about earlier? Well, we've got it. We've got a news item coming up and that might that might be one that I pop on my list just because it's in my backyard and why not? If I can sneak some cheeky prize money, then then that would be pretty good. But um I think that'll be a pretty competitive race.
00:51:52
Speaker
That's literally me just looking at the TerraWera entry list and then going, all right, well, better make some other plans. Yeah. but I ah i'm might be racing for a cash grab, but yeah, that's well, we'll get to that in a moment. but um Yeah, I'm- Dollar per kilometer, it might be the most in Australia, actually.
00:52:13
Speaker
A quick break in the show to thank Bix. Bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors. This is a new gel, new flavors. You've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry. The salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase, whereas the berry has 200 milligrams. Both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia, whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:52:53
Speaker
As you know Bix has been supporting the show from the start and it literally helps keep the podcast coming to you every week. So if you want to support the show, level up your own nutrition game, head over to the Bix website, use our brand new code PEAK, P-E-A-K for 20% off at checkout. And with that, let's get back to the show.
00:53:10
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think it will be. And it'd like to be, so sorry, we might as well touch on it now. We're we're talking about the announcement.
Donna Double Race Prize
00:53:18
Speaker
We'd already seen this sort of announcement that the Donna Double would be the first event, sorry, the only event in the Golden Trail National Series for 2026, which means the winner of it was going to be getting their trip to the world finale of the Golden Trail series.
00:53:35
Speaker
um What I hadn't seen until Vlad brought it up today was that additionally to that, so the winner still gets that golden ticket, I guess they're calling it, to the Golden Trail World Final.
00:53:45
Speaker
um There is also prize money, which it is a lot of prize money. um There's a $21,000 cash prize pool, which is divided over, ah so this is just for the Donna double distance, oh, race, sorry, the 22K up and down.
00:54:02
Speaker
First place male and female is 5,000 Australian. I think it's Australian. um Second place is 3,000 and third place is 1,500. And then the first under 23 also 1,000. So, yeah, that's quite a lot of money. That's probably similar to UTA maybe.
00:54:22
Speaker
UTA is 5,000 euros. Okay, so it's a bit less. Yeah, it goes like five deep as well. um But I just kind of looked at those numbers and I thought what we need in Australia right now is deeper races.
00:54:37
Speaker
So they should have maybe like instead of the five, three, one and a half, you know, went, you know, four, two, one, 500 or 750, 500, 250 and make it like, you know, six or seven deep because that would just bring more people in.
00:54:54
Speaker
Um, cause like first price is a really big price, 5,000 plus the whole trip to Europe. um you know i thought that maybe they could have done it 3000 and then kind of divide those extra 2000 somewhere down the bottom for fifth or sixth place uh for fourth and fifth or even a bit lower yeah yeah yeah nine i probably i probably agree there although i think the field is like the competitive it'd be interesting to see if anyone comes from outside of trail running to have a crack at this
00:55:26
Speaker
um which will be great to watch because Don and Double is like the least easy race for someone to transition into. But be interesting to see how they try. um But maybe it is like there's a lot of people around a similar level that there's probably a lot of people that think they might have a chance of winning. So it might still attract a really good field. um And $5,000 is maybe worth traveling from WA for. Hey, Vlad.
00:55:52
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah. I think might be a bit too close to my one hundred k race, but yeah I mean, I just think it's great for the sport in general. But yeah, I feel like if it would have divided a bit a bit more, um we would have just seen like a deeper field. And like you said, there'll probably be five or six, you know, top people that could win it.
00:56:13
Speaker
um I don't think it's going to get too many roadrunners joining it. But um if they do, it it's it's great like it'd be cool to see if it was like... like in my mind as a trail runner is better that there's they've chosen this sort of race for that sort of prize money. But like in reality, for the growth of the sport, maybe like obviously it's golden trail and they've got to be associated with a specific race and it's it's all to do with the sponsors and the branding and that sort of stuff. But like something like roller coaster,
00:56:41
Speaker
is probably more open to, this this is just in the Victorian context, rollercoaster um is something that might be more likely to have roadrunner come and do it. So if we were doing it to try and get if we wanted to get some more road runners trying or cross country runners trying trail running, then maybe a race that's a little less intense than the Donadab will be better. But for me as a trail runner, it's much better to have it on this race. Yeah, I i agree. I think vd Vlad's point of spreading out the prize money's
00:57:12
Speaker
that's That's perfect because Donadouble, you can race that and realistically can then race two weeks later. Like there's a lot of races coming up afterwards. So if you spread out the prize money and you've got people knowing that, oh, fifth place, you get 600 bucks.
00:57:25
Speaker
Oh, I'm going to turn up. Like for my race at the Donadouble a couple couple years ago i had buffalo in two weeks so it wasn't the big focus race but i was there because it's part of it you know so you'd have a lot of people i think that would go and race it maybe not as their key race but they're going to be on the start line because they know a good day they might win a lot of money and on an average day they're probably going to walk away with a free trip because the prize money will pay for it and then a couple weeks later race what's on after that actually like Buffalo, Cunyany. Yeah. ah Yeah. Yeah. Like other races you can still do. Like you're not ruining, ruining the next couple months just on one race.
00:58:04
Speaker
yeah yeah and that's it that's a good point so like the distance wise is a good one to have it on although Donna Double is one that I think like if you run it really hard I think you'd probably still feel it a couple of weeks later in the Buffalo or Yukinyani like it it might not affect it might only affect you one or two percent but it's the sort of race where because it's got that massive downhill um yeah I think depending on who you are and what sort of how trained you are for it, it might affect other things. But I think you make a good point in that it's not ah it's not like it's a 50K or something like that that you need a bit more time to recover from afterwards. It it might fit into people's seasons, especially if their next thing after that is UTA or something like that. So, yeah, it's very exciting. I didn't hadn't seen it, so I'm excited. I'm going out to Wolverton to start training. Yeah.
00:58:55
Speaker
with the with the prize money With the prize money there, does it change who who you think could win? Is there some people that might be more motivated by a bit of cash? some maybe Maybe some more faster road type guys that will will not be nervous on the downhill because they know that they can get to the bottom and win five grand.
00:59:12
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I think like the ones who I... think might go might have gone to it were probably already thinking about going to it um because they're already thinking about that sub-ultra golden trail distance um so yeah i think it's going to be it's an interesting one because donna double is a very good race of the battle of the uphill versus the downhill runner um yeah versus the all-rounder. So it's, yeah, if everyone's fit on that start line, it actually becomes a very good battle. You've got someone like Michael Kernighan who's incredible uphill, decent enough on the downhill. Yeah.
00:59:50
Speaker
Yeah, so it's versus someone who might be like yourself, Billy, who's decent enough on the uphill but a really good downhill runner. I don't know if that's how you see yourself, but that's how I see you. Yeah, probably.
01:00:03
Speaker
There's some good match-ups there. We've got some like Nathan Pierce, Michael Kernighan, Ian Bess, all very good uphill runners, but you whack in a downhill. And how does that how does that shape things up for the Blake Turners, the...
01:00:17
Speaker
the billy curtis the the right and that's just the men's i'm talking about i think the same thing in the women's as well so yeah it's exciting i'll put fraser in there because of that five thousand dollars prize money i think someone like fraser not saying he's motivated by prize money we need to tell as many people as possible imagine we get like a 15 deep field that'd be that'd be pretty epic i go there trying to win 5 000 and come 12.
01:00:44
Speaker
I think your downhill time on that course is super quick. You'd run well up here. Maybe if go out there and train like 30 times before the race, I'll be the most prepared so I'll be able to do it.
01:00:56
Speaker
We'll see. It'd be worth it. It's a worthwhile investment. Five grand, not far in my backyard. So that may have changed my entire year. All that bullshit I was saying earlier about not focusing on anything.
01:01:06
Speaker
It is a race that I'm quite interested in jumping into. So, yeah, I'm i'm excited by that announcement. and um But, yeah, there will be some, not for me, not not focusing on anything too, ah not not getting too caught up in preparation until something later in the year.
01:01:24
Speaker
So that's that's me, that's the news about Donna Double. um We do have one other piece of news on here, some people may have seen and we don't need to linger on it for too long, but um Shelby Houlihan from the US who has just returned from the four-year doping ban, um the burrito debacle, if you remember it, um she did a trail race in America and So yeah, something a little bit interesting. And she said that I need to do more of these.
01:01:57
Speaker
So interesting to see if she continues along the trail running path or whether she did also get a medal at the World Indoor Champs last year for athletics. So it's not like her athlete's career is finished.
01:02:12
Speaker
um But yeah, just some interesting news of the potential crossover of a high profile athlete, but also, I guess you add in the doping scandal in there as well. And it's a, it's an interesting sort of discussion point. um I don't know if you guys want to dive in too much, but any thoughts? Did you guys see that?
01:02:29
Speaker
Yeah, I, I think that i don't have any really personal opinions over the doping side of things, but if you are serving a band you've served your band and now you're in a testing pool and you're getting tested, you've got to cop the slack from the community. Like you will cop slack from the trail running community and general community. And that probably is in part of it.
01:02:49
Speaker
um one of the punishments of yeah being caught for doping. But, I mean, you're you're running and you're racing. Like, ah you're going to cop that. But also, if you're yeah in the testing pool and all is okay, then you can race. And if she's really good at it, that's awesome to see because that's just a crossover from, like, the road and road and track sort of scene. So it'd be interesting to see how quick she can get at those... um Yeah, American, especially like uphill races in America, like the Broken Arrow Sky Race, those sort of events that attract a lot of prize money and other pro athletes. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think we in America you already see a lot of really good runners, road runners, track runners, mostly road runners, I guess, doing trail running as well. So it's not too out of the ordinary, but it's it's cool to sort of see it from that side.
01:03:38
Speaker
I think the the one thing, the doping thing is like, Trail running still unfortunately behind athletics as a sport in terms of how we regulate doping because there is no sort of out of competition testing. um So I guess it's theoretically a bit easier to ah get away with it if you're smart about it potentially. um but Yeah. yeah I imagine she it doesn't look like she's not not doing athletics and in athletics she is in a doping pool. So it's yeah it's more just that that's not in reference to Shelby in particular but just in reference to the the state of anti-doping and trail running. Unfortunately, that's where we're at. So hopefully that improves over time. I think with the investment of um like larger prize money now in the US, like there'll be a lot more.
01:04:26
Speaker
um But i also think there should be a lot more out of competition that we'd don't have any out of competition testing right now. And I think um you do need some out of competition because like you said, if you know you're going to get tested only at the end of the race or before the race, it obviously makes it a lot easier for people to cheat.
01:04:46
Speaker
And I think the next stage as the sport becomes more professional is that we'll see more out of out of competition testing. Yeah, and I guess we'll probably see in order for that to happen, maybe we need to see better alignment with like the national federations because that that's sort of how the testing is usually done. Whereas like aren a trail running sort of like a ah independent sport, there's a lot of privately run races. The races aren't being put on by a national federation or something like that. So it's I think that's one of the the barriers. So navigating that will be interesting whether
01:05:20
Speaker
whether there's better alignment with the athletics federations and then it falls under that or whether it's set up separately under, i don't know, like a series like UTMB or something like that. Like, yeah, it'll be interesting to see that problem solved. Yeah, I mean, I think if it's if it's privately run, it's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be perfect, but, you know, I think it'll be good if that's probably one of the good things if trail running does make it to the Olympics.
01:05:44
Speaker
is um like, you know, a lot more testing and and a lot more overview from the governing bodies. And, yeah, i mean, I've listened to that podcast that James did and i thought it was pretty interesting. They will find out quite a lot about it in the next six or 12 months and I think that they will start if it does go ahead, if if trail running does make it into the Olympics in Brisbane, I'm sure a lot of those things will start coming into place a lot earlier. so you know, technically we could see a lot more testing very, very soon if if they do get that green light for those for the trail running to be an Olympic sport. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. the
01:06:27
Speaker
The alignment and the testing pools and all that sort of stuff are very closely tied with Olympics and and that sort of thing. So, yeah, interesting. um So, yeah, that's ah news topics for the week. We had a couple of...
01:06:43
Speaker
Race results, just pulling the one up in WA. We'll call out the winners, although it's not loading on my computer. Here it is. Sorry, everyone. While we're doing that, we're going to go to the New york's new Year's Eve Rock Around the Clock in Victoria.
01:07:00
Speaker
um I don't know exactly what this race was. It was one of the Trails Plus events, but we'll just ah read out the winners. so in the, well, there's a lot of events, so i'm not sure which one is the most competitive, but well let's assume the 50, I hate to assume, but the 50K, the winner in the 50K was Jack Crapper in Foraz,
01:07:28
Speaker
52.59 and the sorry, was Katie Hunter in six hours, So that was that race it was also a six hour a ten k a twenty one k forty two k so lots of different distances and then the six inch trail marathon ah first place there was Jamison Hick in 352.59 the women first place was Petra that name rings a bell from
01:08:09
Speaker
um of the WA races I think. Whereabouts is that right that's not far behind the leading men either how where's that race in WA? Probably around 40 minutes out of out of the CBD um Kind of, it's been gone for a long time. It was probably one of the original trail race in Western Australia. Um, and yeah, always in December, always usually hot. This year was probably the coolest year they've had for a long time.
01:08:37
Speaker
It's a nice 4.00 AM start. Um, and yeah, it's, um, I've done the half distance twice before. I've never done the full one. It's a bit hard. i think they just announced it, just saw the email the next year it's going to be on the 20th of December.
01:08:52
Speaker
So yeah, that kind of time of the year could be a good and a bad thing. You could be switching already. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of been solid around two to 300 people that do that race every year. um It's fairly runnable. Yeah.
01:09:09
Speaker
But yeah, we have some bigger trail races in in Perth right now that put on a better event. So feel like this race has just fallen a little bit on the way on the way side a bit. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
01:09:24
Speaker
Nice. Well, that's yeah that's two races on. Obviously not heaps of races on this time of year. We are going to talk about one that's coming up this weekend in a moment. But we did ask for some questions and I think one of them we've already answered. But this one's a bit of fun from...
01:09:38
Speaker
Billy O'Malley, he would like to ask Billy, who is the best trail runner from Queensland named Billy? Oh, yeah, Billy O'Malley's probably got me. Yeah, yeah, the big race of last year, he's got me. UTA, he smoked me, so he's got me for last year. You have to race him sometimes. Head to head, head to head. Head to head, he's got me. got the head to head. I think maybe you've got the ranking on him, but he's got the head heads.
01:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And that's all that matters in the end is the head-to-head. Exactly. that's how you compare people. So, yeah, it like we'll award that one to Billy O'Meally. I think Billy's running ah the 50K at Tarawera. He's at least on the list. So um good luck with your training for that, Billy. um So thanks for writing in. And the other question was from Ben Burgess, but we already sort of answered. We went into a fair bit of detail. he He's very keen to see what your season is like this year. So thanks, Ben, for also...
01:10:32
Speaker
giving us the question. um Thanks, Ben. We'll move on to the last part of the episode we've got a couple of races coming up this weekend there's one of the Adelaide trail runner races in Bel Air National Park um and then the other big race at this time probably the biggest race I guess at this time of year maybe across the country I'm not sure um but definitely with the Victorian bias it's the only thing that's really on or it's the biggest thing over the summertime um is the two bays trail run um just down on the Mornington Peninsula
01:11:04
Speaker
um So they've got a twenty eight k there and a 56K. um The 28K, yeah, so the course goes from sort of one side of the peninsula to the other. It's pretty quick. um For the 28K, know the men's record is 141, which is like a pace of like three forty eight or something. So very quick.
01:11:28
Speaker
um Frederick Trunchard's run it before. He did have the course record, but he lost it. So he was the winner of the, world champs this year. So we've had some very decent runners there, but a lot of really quick runners as well. So it's a known as the trail runner that road runners can do. So you definitely get a lot of quick people there. So it's a fun one. um And I just want to go through a couple of the people because this year probably looks maybe even more stacked than other years. um So in the twenty eight k
01:12:02
Speaker
In the women, we've got Kate Avery running. Kate's done, and she did Cosi 30, so she's, and 12K at rollercoaster, so she's sort of building back after giving birth in the middle of last year. So she's looking to be in pretty good shape, I think. So she'll be, yeah, be interesting to see how she goes even in amongst the men's field as well.
01:12:25
Speaker
um Then a couple of other names in the women's field that jump out. There's Sarah Howe, who we're not sure if she's done a trail race before, but she does have a 17.42 seventeen forty two five k last year which is which is pretty good um we've got a Michaela Harvey who looks like she does a bit of triathlon I'm not sure if she's done any trail races but she looks decent as well um also Emily Bartlett who was at world champs um when we were talking about GSERA me and Jess didn't give Emily a shout out for being at world champs so sorry about that Emily was
01:13:00
Speaker
give that shout out now but she's running um so yeah a decent very decent women's field um in the men's field it's going to be i think a very good race there's some very fast runners so that a course record that I was talking about is held by James Laven and he's running um So yeah, we're interested see how he goes. He ever since that race, I've sort of followed him on Strava and he's been on and off injured. So hopefully as i don't know what he's been up to recently, but hopefully he's not too injured.
01:13:36
Speaker
um Michael Kernaghan's running, who we know is a very quick runner as well as a very good uphill runner. But this is mostly about how fast you can run. But I think this course does suit Kerners quite a bit being from a sort of road background.
01:13:53
Speaker
Toby Sparks is running, ah the the new king of Tasmania because i've I've given that to him. He's much better than me now. so Toby's coming across and racing. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see he how he goes against some some really quick road guys because there's two other names in the list that maybe haven't done a lot of trail running but very decent runners. So you've got... um Sorry, I'm going to get them up here. Michael Tosen.
01:14:24
Speaker
um So he actually, I'm going to get the right person. Yes, this is him. He came sixth at the Melbourne Marathon this year and ran 2.18.32. And he's had a really interesting progression over the last few years. He's run...
01:14:43
Speaker
run Yeah, a couple of marathons, but he's gone from running a 234 to running in ballarat this year then running a 24 at Gold Coast to then running 218 at Melbourne which is probably slower than both Gold Coast and Ballarat so yeah very impressive season he also ran the Puffing Billy which is I don't think it's really a trail race I think it's more of a road race but sort of like a bit of a fun run race and he won that so
01:15:15
Speaker
Michael's coming with some very good form and some very quick marathon legs. it'll be interesting to see how he goes. Um, then we've got Brandon Dewar who um has some quick times also on the track and
Competitive Field in 56K Race
01:15:33
Speaker
road. He's run 8.20 for 3K and 14.20 for 5K. So um very quick, 67.5. So yeah, some some quick and quick road runners ah jumping in and and having a crack. um So same as sort of Sarah in the women. So yeah, i think it's going to be an interesting race.
01:15:53
Speaker
um Yeah, you guys have any thoughts before I go to the 56? perfect time. Oh, sorry. I was going to say the 56 would be a perfect free TerraWare last long hard effort, which looks like a few of them are doing.
01:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, i was gonna say you should have come over, but yeah because that's that's exactly what's happening. I think there's some there's some big names running the 56 as well, because it is ah good, probably great preparation for something like Tarawira or I think Anna, who is Anna McKenna, who's running the 56k, I believe, I'm not sure 100% on that.
01:16:26
Speaker
um She's actually doing Black Canyon, which we spoke about being on the same weekend. So um yeah, the women's field in the 56k is pretty incredible field for, i think, for a two base. They probably haven't seen it. Well, they may have, I don't know the full history, screw but it'd have to be one of their better fields um So Anna is joined by Caitlin Fielder, who we called out before, was at Western States last year, is also going to be running Tara Weirra. She's yeah one of the best trail runners ah from across the world. Definitely one of the best or the yeah one ah definitely in the top tier of Oceania runners. So Caitlin's coming across to run, which is a little bit random, but um it's great to see.
01:17:11
Speaker
And Juliette Sewell is also running and we mentioned her training for Tarawira 100k. So yeah, if all those three ladies are running, it's going to be a quick, fast race, I think. um And another name in there was Grace Tame, who probably known a bit more for her I don't know if we call it influencing more, probably advocacy, but she is pretty big on social media.
01:17:37
Speaker
um But she does she is pretty decent runner herself as well. So she's going to be running the 56k. um In the men, we've got Tom Dade running. Perfect. We might see Tom Dade back running without a shirt. It's the perfect race to run without a shirt, I reckon. So...
01:17:56
Speaker
Someday he might bring it back, I don't know. he's He might be past his shirtless days, but if he hears this, wouldn't mind seeing it. It's the day for it, I'd say. I don't i think that it's going to be about 20 degrees.
01:18:08
Speaker
He's up against, seems to put Morgan Lane and Luke Bissett. I tried to sort of Google these guys a little bit. I'm not sure if I found the right ones, but Morgan has run...
01:18:19
Speaker
GSER in the past 50 mile if it's the right one he came fourth there last year he's run 100k at surf coast came eighth there so he's maybe not quite on the same level as Tom but maybe he'll give him a run for his money um also in that list probably one that I think will be very competitive is Josh Goding um Josh had done I think he came second at roller coaster behind Mike Carroll um and he won it the year before so he's a um definitely moves pretty quick. um So yeah, he'll be he'll be competitive. But I think, yeah, the the picks of the races possibly the women's 56K and the men's 28K. I think those two races are going to be really good to watch.
01:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, so so this this race from Queensland, we actually don't really, I've never really heard much about this race other than when someone really quick, like a quick marathon runner or trail runner turns up and and wins it. What's the what's the big um draw point for it? That's my, like it is sort of, I guess being in Victoria, we're a bit closer to it, but still that similar vibe to you, Billy, in terms of like, it is sort of like the race where you go, oh, okay, like that guy's running it and yeah, he's really quick. be interesting to see what time he can do or there's a few people traveling here and they run it and that sort of thing. But I don't think I've seen it in a year where it's been this competitive, maybe across all the distances. Maybe there's been a few years where there's three or four quite good people running one of the distances, but sometimes it's a bit of a spread.
01:19:49
Speaker
um But yeah, i wonder if Tarawera coming up is just, it's a great training ground. There's maybe more road runners, maybe especially that, I don't want to, I'm not saying this in a negative way, but like ah the B tier runners who are running really quick marathons still, um maybe they see trail as an opportunity and this is a nice foray into it to see how it goes. So maybe it's the way the sport's going as well that this race is is a good bridge between the two and we might see some
Race Course and Shoe Choices
01:20:18
Speaker
people in at that. But yeah, and I don't know.
01:20:21
Speaker
And it's a pretty flat chorus. It's a pretty flat chorus. Yeah, yeah. It's got about a, I don't know what it is exactly, but it's probably like 400 to 500 over 28K. It's not not much and it's just ah out and back for the...
01:20:38
Speaker
for the 56k so it's only sort of double that so it's it's pretty flat um i'll see if i can find the exact distances of the vaum but it starts with a big climb well a big-ish climb up to the top of arthur's sea um and then you've got a little bit of undulating section and then a big sort of a long extended downhill and it's pretty quick like most of the trails are sort of hard pack gravel um and then there's actually a few bits where you're like on a gravel road and then there's a few bits that are a bit more sandy but still not too slow still fairly hard packed so yeah it's pretty quick underfoot um I think Nathan Pearce ran it in Vaporflies.
01:21:20
Speaker
once so yeah I'm not sure that's the best shoe choice it's interesting it's probably one of the ones where that's like a it's either a trail super shoe like the adidas super shoe which is known for sort of being quick on very sort of manic or fast trails versus potentially super shoes the right super shoe but maybe single use yeah yeah i think i think you could wear it but i don't know if you'd be seeing much more action from it afterwards yeah i've run a couple with um well with um vaporflies before i usually like think the best time to run with a road super shoe on the trails is like after you've already put in like 500k in the super shoe and then it's like not as bouncy it's a bit more flexible still super light um but
01:22:05
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. I've noticed the same same thing up. Oh, sorry. um Yeah. I listened Jim Wamsley's podcast on free trail and that's what he was saying. His shoe choice for world champs was a Tekton two, no three, but like an old pair because it loses that extreme spring.
01:22:23
Speaker
That's what I've noticed because I'm i'm tight with my money. ah The Terex that I've got are now kind of worn down so much, but they're actually becoming pretty good for semi-technical races.
01:22:34
Speaker
To start with, you're bouncing all over. the yeah as soon as you like hit a rock, you're just bouncing off it and straight away. But now it's becoming like less. It's still great. feels like a super shoe on the flats and that, but on the technical stuff, it's losing that like extreme sort of rebound off.
01:22:51
Speaker
so yeah yeah i guess the foam is starting to compress a little bit so it's a little less spongy you don't feel like when you step down it sort of like moves under your foot if you're on an uneven surface yeah yeah yeah think like with um road races you always like one like a brand new shoe for your race like a super shoe for your race looks like for trail races you might not want like a brand new um especially a super shoe for for that race you might want to like you know put in a few hundred k's in at first because yeah i actually agree with that with the adidas um atus one like it's they feel good even like you know 500k in um and then straight out of the box and maybe a little bit too bouncy interesting yeah well with tarawara vlad what's um the shoe choice it's so it's been yeah it's been on my mind for a bit because i think you can do it with a road shoe um
01:23:47
Speaker
So i was like, I might get the Vaporflies.
Shoe Modifications and Performance
01:23:50
Speaker
Vaporfly 4s are like a bit low onto the ground. So i've got I got a few pairs because I thought I'll probably train in one and then have one for the race.
01:23:59
Speaker
um And then my first trail race in them, like I stepped on a rock and like the whole back of the hill just fell off. So now lost a bit of confidence in the shoe. Even though it's probably like a freak step of like a sharp rock where like a chunk of foam just fell at the back.
01:24:18
Speaker
um But yeah, lost a bit of confidence in that shoe. Still thinking that that would be my go-to shoe. But yeah. What about a resale with like a Vibram light base?
01:24:31
Speaker
It's a bit hard to get it done in in Perth. Like I could like post somewhere somewhere. um i think sydney might do them sydney might have a vibram re-solar yeah i had a quick look online because i did it when i lived in hong kong and it was pretty simple um it was literally in the mtr ah station in the train station on my way home but yeah i've had a look and yeah probably need to post them but then yeah i don't know exactly how they're gonna end up and like you want to do some training with it so yeah i'm not 100
01:25:03
Speaker
to be honest. like Yeah. Interesting. There we go. Yeah, like a little like ah Mad Maxing the shoes a bit, a bit of Frankenstein shoe. Yeah, I've done it before. And it's like not 100% because it changes the the feel, the whole feel of the shoe because there's so much more weight now at the bottom of the foot. Yeah, okay.
01:25:20
Speaker
um I think if they could do like, only a bit of grip like in the front or like, i don't know if you know the tecton Hocker Tectones, like how they have grip like spread out from the bottom. So it's not like a full piece of grip. It's rather like a few pieces, which makes it nice and flexible and really nice to run in. Sometimes it's like a big chunk of grip. it's It's not that great on runnable trails and like um fast courses. So, yeah.
01:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, no. Not ideal now. I don't know what you're going to race in, but. I'll make a call in the next few weeks. We'll see what people run in at two bays. Maybe that's a good tester. Yeah, I mean, some of them are sponsored. like I actually miss those times when I was sponsored because like i had i didn't have to think about it. Well, this was the shoes I was running and that's it.
01:26:12
Speaker
And now I have so many options. like I've literally bought 23 pairs of shoes um last year and already bought two new pairs this year already. So, um yeah, that's the down size of downside of you know, having so many good shoes on the market and at the same time, so many bad trail shoes on the market right now.
01:26:33
Speaker
If you've ran with some super shoes, you go like how are trail shoes still so heavy and bulky, where like road shoes, super road shoes are just so nice to run in.
01:26:46
Speaker
But yeah. Yeah, nice. ah Well, we'll have to check in with you down the track, Vlad, and see where you landed on. You're my, um yeah you're going to guide me through the shoes. given your extensive experience of purchasing.
01:26:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um if you can get If you can get a training, like a good training shoe is definitely the EVO SL. I really like them. They're just a bit too soft to run quick in them.
01:27:10
Speaker
So I don't know if I could race in them. But as a daily trainer, that's my way to, that's what I've been using this whole last year. um But yeah, I think get yourself a pair of Alpha flies and do a workout on the roads and um it'll be so much fun.
01:27:26
Speaker
aye Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've got some alpha flies in the cupboard that had just been sitting there for, for like three years. So I've whipped them back out and yeah, it's, it's, it's different shoe. I tell you that.
01:27:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
Episode Wrap-up
01:27:42
Speaker
Well, thanks Vlad and thanks Billy and thanks everyone for joining us. It's been a fun episode and, um, hopefully we're all sort of, yeah, well, I'm definitely going to be following along with Billy's journey over the next few months and, um,
01:27:54
Speaker
and Vlad's journey into Tarawira. So exciting times ahead. Thanks for jumping on guys. Cool. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. See you guys. See you later. so you elila